If you are an expec­tant mother, it is very impor­tant for your health and your baby’s health that you con­tinue to focus on your well­ness through­out your preg­nancy. In addi­tion to eat­ing right, get­ting proper rest, and tak­ing your pre­na­tal vit­a­mins rec­om­mended by your doc­tor, phys­i­cal fit­ness is very important. According to the Amer­i­can Con­gress of Obste­tri­cians and Gyne­cologsts (ACOG), at least 30 min­utes of mod­er­ate exer­cise most days of the week is rec­om­mended.  Here are some tips for stay­ing fit dur­ing your pregnancy:

- As with any­thing that involves your body and your baby, it is impor­tant that you speak with your doc­tor about all your exer­cise plans. You should also fol­low the ACOG’s guide­lines and be aware of any con­traindi­ca­tions and abnor­mal symp­toms that may develop.

- As your belly expands, your pelvis can tip to coun­ter­bal­ance the load.  This “ante­rior pelvic tilt” shortens/tightens the hip flex­ors, tight­ens the lower back mus­cles and weak­ens your ham­strings.  Doing exer­cises to stretch or strengthen these mus­cles can help pre­vent back pain and keep your core strong through­out your pregnancy. Muscles to stretch: low back, hip flex­ors, chest, quads (avoid over-stretching: preg­nancy hor­mones stim­u­late length­en­ing and lax­ity in the lig­a­ments and other con­nec­tive tis­sues).  Mus­cles to strengthen:  glutes, hip exten­sors, ham­strings, trapez­ius (upper back), pelvic floor

-  Include a min­i­mum of two days per week of resis­tance train­ing.  Bands, machines, or body weight exer­cises are best dur­ing preg­nancy, espe­cially full body resis­tive exer­cises that incor­po­rate large mus­cle groups and your core such as squats and cable exer­cises.  Main­tain­ing your mus­cle mass keeps your meta­bolic rate high to help you shed the baby weight and keeps your body strong so you can carry that 20lb infant car seat.

-  Cir­cuit train­ing and work­outs that com­bine aer­o­bic and strength exer­cises are an effi­cient way to move. For exam­ple, com­plet­ing the two mile loop around your local park fol­lowed by 4–5 body­weight exer­cises (2–3 sets each of  10–15 reps). Exam­ples include mod­i­fied push-ups on a bench, tri­cep dips on a bench, body weight squats, and mod­i­fied pull-ups.  Most of these exer­cises can be done with items you have around you and require noth­ing more than your pos­i­tive atti­tude and your doc­tors’ approval.

-  If you were a fit, reg­u­lar exer­ciser before you became preg­nant, you can main­tain your cur­rent fre­quency of exer­cise but back down on the inten­sity.  Remem­ber that this is not the time to lose weight or train for your next race.  Lis­ten to your body and stop exer­cis­ing if you feel over fatigued or pain.

-  If you count house­clean­ing and shop­ping as your phys­i­cal activ­i­ties, don’t order P90X or start an intense rou­tine dur­ing preg­nancy. Start with three days per week of mod­er­ate inten­sity exer­cise (such as walk­ing) and progress to 30 min­utes daily. You should be able to talk but not sing to know you are mov­ing at the right pace.

-  Main­tain­ing the strength of your pelvic floor and doing exer­cises that tar­get your glutes and core are vital for sup­port­ing your grow­ing belly and help­ing you in the deliv­ery room. Exer­cises such as hip bridges and planks cou­pled with Kegels are ideal.  Avoid doing exer­cises on your back for extended peri­ods of time. (See ACOG guidelines.)

-  Preg­nancy hor­mones can be bru­tal, and your poor part­ner often receives the brunt of it.  Exer­cise and phys­i­cal activ­ity helps you feel good about your body and is proven to ele­vate your mood, com­bat depres­sion and help you main­tain that “Preggo Glow”.

-  Hydra­tion is crit­i­cal. The com­bi­na­tion of an increased blood vol­ume dur­ing preg­nancy and the heat of sum­mer (or the dry­ness of win­ter) make it crit­i­cal that you stay hydrated.  Every fif­teen min­utes through­out your exer­cise rou­tine you should be tak­ing in 8 oz. of water.  Get­ting dehy­drated and over­heated can have a neg­a­tive impact on you and on the devel­op­ment of your fetus. See ACOG guide­lines about avoid­ing exer­cis­ing out­doors mid­day and any activ­ity where you get overheated.

- Focus on main­tain­ing a neu­tral spine (ears over shoul­ders, shoul­ders over hips) dur­ing exer­cise to pre­vent injury – if you can’t main­tain good align­ment, you should choose a dif­fer­ent exer­cise or lessen the intensity.

This blog post is the first in a two-part series guest authored by Julie Drake and Leeann Mar­cie from the Uni­ver­sity of Texas at Austin’s Fit­ness Insti­tute of Texas.